Creative Writing for Academics & Activists

In this workshop we will explore creative methods for writing, and telling, important – academic and political - stories differently. We will reflect on various materials and prompts including auto/biographical accounts (written, visual and film-based etc.); research diaries and data; pedagogic reflections; as well as emotional, practical, theoretical and P/political concerns.

In addition to challenging traditional understandings of ‘good’, ‘valid’ and ‘tidy’ research and scholarship, this way of working has implications for the ways in which we define and progress knowledge and impact - both within and outside of the academy.

We will discuss the value of creative writing, write some short pieces of fiction / memoir / poetry / song lyrics, and engage in some creative editing.

Prior to the workshop, please reflect on some of the research- and/or activism-based issues that are currently concerning you. On the day, bring along something to write with (computer, phone, paper OR all of these) and, of course, your imagination. . .

Tea, coffee, beers and wine will be available at a small cost at the beginning of the workshop and during the midpoint break. Complimentary snacks will be provided.

Key aims:

• Develop or renew creative writing skills
• Explore alternative ways to re/present your work
• Create new opportunities to engage diverse audiences

A bit about Gayle

www.gayle-letherby.co.uk

[email protected]

I am Visiting Professor at the Universities of Plymouth, Greenwich and Bath, specifically at Bath with the Centre for Death and Society (CDAS). I am a sociologist, alongside substantive interests in reproductive and non/parental identities; meanings and experiences of love; loneliness and solitude; gender, health and wellbeing; loss and the aftermath of death; travel and transport mobility, gender and identity within institutions, food poverty and sports development. I have always been fascinated by research methodology, including auto/biographical, autoethnographic, feminist and creative practices.

For nearly 15 years I have been experimenting, both within my academic work and with reference to other non-academic activities (including political activism and personal auto/biographical work), with different ways of working; including collage and zine making and fiction and memoir writing. Although, my fiction and memoir work began as part of the griefwork I undertook following the death of my husband, John (1948-2010) and my mum, Dorothy (1931-2012) and were at first separate from my academic work, these writings are now additionally also often embedded in my scholarly pieces.

See https://www.abctales.com/user/gletherby and Stories of and from solitude and companionship - The Sociological Review for some examples of different types of writing. This way of working, of writing, of academic storytelling, explicitly blurs the boundaries of ‘fact’ and ‘fiction’ (which is arguably true of all narratives, whether made explicit or not). In addition to challenging traditional understandings of ‘good’, ‘valid’ and ‘tidy’ research and scholarship it also has implications for the ways in which we define, and attempt to enact, engagement and impact, within, besides and beyond the academy.

For more information, and to sign up to my newsletter, visit my website!

Host or Publisher Fish Factory Arts